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Location: Reiner's Flat • Date: 31 October 2002

Reiner fumbled with the key in the lock, cursing under his breath as metal scraped against metal. He tried again, this time - finally - managing to slip it in correctly. He'd have cast the unlocking charm he usually used if he wasn't so drunk and afraid he'd slur the words and end up turning his door into a Giant Panda instead. Twisting the key until he heard all the tumblers click, Reiner exhaled heavily and leaned his weight against the door until it gave way.

Maybe he'd imbibed a little too much tonight. It wasn't often he drank this much. Him and NIkita had gone out for the holiday, cruising some muggle bars near their flats, and the Russian bastard had made sure to get him well liquored up. Not that he hadn't needed it. It had been almost two months since he'd gotten back from America and he was still reliving the experience. The office had given him two weeks of leave to "get himself back in order" but that hadn't been enough. He still thought about the del Bosques and what had happened to the family in the year he'd been a part of their lives. He still dreamed of the knife plunging into EJ's chest, and of Isobel's face when they had talked later. Once he'd brought her brother's body home for good. It often made him sick, kind of like he was feeling now.

Stumbling ungracefully toward the toilet in his small studio, Reiner tried to aim. He managed to keep most of his stomach's contents in the bowl - thankfully. He was in no state to clean it up, and stale vomit was never pleasant the morning after.

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Nikita watched as Reiner struggled into his apartment, amused. The past month had been rough for his friend, he could tell. But Rey still wasn't saying anything about what had gone down while he was in the States. It had been nice to see him let loose tonight and relax a little. It was easy to see the man hadn't been getting much sleep, he was struggling with more than just finding the toilet.

Sighting, Nika made his way to the little bathroom. The room tilted around him some, but his state was far better than poor Reiner - who was now hunched over the toilet and loosing his stomach's contents into the bowl. Maybe he's pushed too hard on the drinks tonight, but he had just wanted Reiner to enjoy himself. He had been trying to help.

"I'll get the stomach potion." he mumbled, stalking back into the kitchen to find the store-bought potion they'd discovered a few years back. It worked wonders, clearing your stomach entirely. By the time he'd returned with a mug of the gross concoction, Reiner was sitting against the wall across from the toilet , his long legs splayed in front of him with his head thrown back and eyes closed.

"Here". He tried not to fumble the glass as he passed to Reiner's outstretched hand. "Drink." He commanded, swaying slightly to the side.

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Taking the glass carefully, Reiner opened his throat and downed the entire glass in one go. It was better to just avoid tasting the foul liquid entirely rather than try to sip it slowly. It didn't quite work, as a few droplets landed on his taste buds filling Reiner's mouth with a skunk-like taste that had him gagging all over again. Thankfully, the potion worked fast though. Once it was in his stomach, the nausea dissipated and Reiner was left just woozy and slurring rather than violently ill over his toilet bowl.

"Thanks," he muttered through the thickness in his throat caused by his salivary glands overworking to clear the foulness from his mouth. Reiner cleared his throat and stood - not without difficulty - and using the wall to steady himself made his way towards the small futon couch in the middle of the room. "Why you insist on getting me this drunk?" he grumbled, irritated not only at his friend but at the thickness of the German accent in his slurred words. His family, alcohol, and intense emotion were the only things that brought it out of him these days. He glared up at the three Nikas swaying across the coffee-table in front of him and tried to pick out which was the real one so he could throw a pillow at it.

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"You know I would do anything for you, brother." Nika tried a suave bow but nearly toppled head first into the concrete flooring. Recovering, Nika slid down onto the futon couch next to his best friend. "I know you have had a hard few months. I just try to make it not so hard, if only for a night." He murmured with a casual shrug, suddenly finding his fingernails very interesting. Though he told Reiner almost everything, it wasn't often they discussed feelings.

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Reiner barked a harsh laugh. "Hard" barely scratched the surface of his last few weeks. "You don't know the half of it, my brother." He knocked his head back to stare at the white paint of his ceiling. No, he hadn't told anyone about what had happened with the del Bosques. Not a soul. He'd given his superiors, and the American's, the bare bones. Just enough to clear him of wrongdoing in EJ's death, and of course it had come out that he'd been the one who broke the news to Jaime. But he hadn't said a word of the personal crap that went along with everything.

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Nika cleared his throat and shifted on the couch. His friend needed him, he'd be here. "If I do not know, tell me yeah?" He was nearly as emotionally constipated as his best friend. It was the way they were most alike. It manifested in very different ways, though. Where Nikita was shy and reserved Reiner was outgoing and charismatic. Nikita avoid emotions all together, while Reiner was just bad at them. But these past two months had been bad. He needed to hear it, what had happened to Reiner in Tajikistan. And the States. Even if talking about their feelings was sure to make him break out into hives.

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Reiner's lips quirked up into a smirk. Nikita was proposing talking about feelings. He must have done a worse job hiding his mental state since coming home than he'd thought. "Are we going to gossip like old ladies, Kitka?" He slurred with a giggle. It was a distraction technique, one that had worked in the past. Using the Ilyenkov Family Pet Name for the older man that he'd picked up from Mikki. Nikita hated it. Hopefully it would distract him, and Reiner would be relieved of having to talk about the del Bosque fiasco.

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Nika narrowed his eyes at Reiner across the couch. "I see what you do, Deutsche. You think you are smart, but this will not be getting you out of telling me what is wrong." He smacked Reiner in the back of the head, struggling slightly to sit back up in his spot. He was too drunk for sudden movements. Being around alcohol all his life, Nikita really should know better by now.

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Reiner sighed, rubbing the stinging spot where Nika's hand had hit him. "I don't even know where I would begin, Nikki." He really, really didn't. So much had happened, and he had spent two months ruminating in over a years worth of memories. His brain was a jumble. He wasn't sure he could vocalize it, even if he wanted to. Which he really, really did not.

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Reiner rubbed his face with his palms, trying to remember the beginning. "You mean the part where they handed me the nearly empty file, or part where I almost punched the del Bosque patriarch in the face in his office?" Reiner inquired, only half-joking. His team at the Ministry had set him up for failure. He'd gone in nearly blind. And because of that, he'd almost lost his cool not 24 hours into it and done something stupid. Like assault an American bureaucrat that also happened to be his target's father.

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"Chto ty sdelal????" Nika yelled in Russian, "You did what??" He knew how hard his friend worked to keep calm, and to not use his fists to solve all his problems. It hadn't always been that way. Reiner had been quick to use violence when Nikita had first known him. It had only been a few years that Reiner had made a conscious effort to reign himself in. Since he'd gotten this job, honestly. It was good for him. But now he was going around almost punching Americans? What had happened to him in the States?

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"That isn't even the worst of it." Reiner huffed in amusement. No, that was far from the worst of it. Reiner glanced over at Nika before returning his gaze to the empty wall ahead of him. Sucking in a breath, he said the words he'd been too afraid to vocalize thus far. Alcohol, and holding everything in for far too long, had finally made his lips loose. Still, they were hard coming, and even then hardly more than a whisper. "I don't know if I killed him on purpose, Nikki,"

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Reiner rolled his eyes, "No. EJ. The guy they sent me to find." He kicked at the concrete beneath his still booted feet and sat up. Resting his elbows on his knees, Reiner let his forehead fall into his palms. "And I slept with his sister." Somehow, that was the worst of it. Or at least, it was the thing he felt worst about. Which made no sense, considering EJ del Bosque hadn't come down those Tajikistani mountains alive. And that only made him feel worse about it. It was just a vicious cycle at this point.